


perhaps the teeth remember

by MiniNephthys



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-02 06:49:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5238518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The pain of losing a child and everyone else forgetting that they ever existed is something that really, only people who have experienced it can even begin to understand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	perhaps the teeth remember

The pain of losing a child is something that really, only people who have experienced it can empathize with, and Gaster would commiserate with Asgore over it (his majesty has always needed someone just to understand) were it not for the circumstances.

The pain of losing a child and everyone else forgetting that they ever existed is something that really, only people who have experienced it can even begin to understand, and Gaster would like to hope he is the only one. Of course, he can’t know for sure.

Sans was... bright. He was brilliant for his age, of course, but that isn’t precisely what Gaster means when he says that. He means something closer to the shine of his smile, the laughter that his bad puns would give Gaster, the way he’d look after Papyrus if Gaster had to do something and treated his brother like the most important person in his world-

Papyrus doesn’t even remember him now. Gaster has given up on trying to spark the memories in him.

Instead he smothers. He knows Papyrus is an adult now, completely capable of making his own decisions: he knows he’s a perfectly good sentry, and that he’s been training under Undyne, but he worries. He worries he’ll come home from the laboratory one day and find his second son a pile of dust on the snow, from someone who doesn’t appreciate puzzles as much as they do.

But he can’t stop him. He can’t do anything, and has never been able to do anything besides fool around with experiments in a lab and produce absolutely nothing of value.

(Papyrus asked him once if he would prefer if he was working in the lab alongside him instead of as a sentry, and his shout of “no” rattled the frame of their house.

At least he would be able to mourn this time, if something did happen, and it’s terrible that any father can think ‘at least’ about the death of his child.)

He doesn’t speak as much as he used to. He speaks to Papyrus, of course, and to the king, and to his remaining assistants, but apart from that he talks very little. Papyrus does the grocery shopping for the both of them, and expresses concern near-daily that his father has hardly anything in his life besides his work and his family. No hobbies. Hardly any love for puzzles now, even.

Gaster does not even love his work as much as he used to. He holds no love, but he continues it with a single-minded intensity: Sans died because of his work. He cannot allow anything Sans sacrificed for to go to waste or become a failure.

Asgore is always telling him to take more vacations, and offers advice on teas that calm the spirit. He appreciates the thought. His king is a kind one, truly, and would only be kinder to him if he could explain why he can’t.

His assistants, too, are kind. Alphys doesn’t complain about the overload of work or why he can’t hire any more subordinates, not that she realizes that they’re down one in the first place. She shares her ‘human history’ books with him, and he almost remembers how to crack a smile, sometimes.

And Papyrus is the kindest of all. Even though Gaster knows he’s too protective and clings too hard, Papyrus never is angry with him, only frustrated at the very most. Papyrus says he’ll prove to Gaster that he’s an amazing sentry, and then a fantastic Royal Guard, and then Gaster will finally be able to believe that his son is a grown skeleton now who can make him proud as a parent.

Gaster wants to believe. But Sans made him proud, too.


End file.
